Tuesday, August 28, 2012

I put on my 30 Before 30 List that I want to make greeting cards for each occassion. I haven't accmoplished that this year, but I'm thinking if I start now I might hit all the occassions/holidays by the time I'm thirty! ;)

So I decided to start with my best friend's birthday this month. She's really the least DIY person I know, she actually jokes me for my DIY/craftness projects {secretly she loves me, she just plays tough} so it seemed fitting that I make her a fully do-it-yourself birthday card! ;)

My grandmother got me this card making magazine subscription so I looked through it and found a really cool idea for making an accordian circle to offer a 3-D perspective to the card.

So I looked through my newly organized office to find some card stock and scrapebook paper to make a cool card based off some ideas in my new little magazine.

I added some colorful paper on top of the silver cardstock, then using the same paper I made the accordian circle.

I added a metal grommet and a 'Happy Birthday' tag to seal the deal. And in case you have any questions who made it, a 'handmade by yours truly' stamp will let you know! ;)

It's actually pretty easy to make the circle itself. You just cut a piece of paper and fold it in like 1/4 of inch sizes. The tough part, for me at least, was fanning it out into a circle and gluing it together while still holding it's shape. It might also have something to do with the glue I was using. Now that I know that Gorilla Glue isn't good for craft projects, maybe I should get myself a little glue gun!

I'm looking forward to doing more greeting cards like this in the future. Halloween will be a fun time to get creative with some stamps and fun patterns....but before then is my dad's birthday. I'm already thinking of what I can make for him. I just love being crafty! HA!

Friday, August 24, 2012

1. Get another dog (Bailey needs a playmate)2. Mend broken relationships
3. Do a full marathon (run/walk)
4. Take a cake decorating class5. Take the next step in my career (management)6. Buy a new car (that I LOVE)!7. Have a professional maid come in and clean my house
8. Do a home renovation project on my own!
9. Become a mom10. Create a piece of art (painting or drawing) I’d be willing to hang in my house
11. Get back into scrapbooking; make scrapbook of home renovations
12. Pay off my student loans
13. Read the Bible cover-to-cover
14. Finally be happy with my body
15. Redo two bathrooms in my home (gut & start over) RENOVATED ONE BATHROOM, SO 1/2 A POINT! ;)
16. Visit all the wineries in Virginia (that’s 156 wineries)
17. Go to Boston and see the RED SOXs play18. Do another tropical vacation19. Go camping20. Not have a farmer’s (soccer) tan for one summer!
21. Take a cooking class with Ryan22. Go on vacation and bring Bailey
23. Paint a mural on a wall in my home (future baby Luce room)24. Take one full day to watch old classic 80’s movies 25. Keep a plant alive for longer than 1 week!
26. Convince in-laws to move back down to Virginia27. Get a Smartphone
28. Run in a race with Ryan (5K, 8K, 10K…whatever!)
29. Make my own greeting cards for every occasion
30. Throw/host an elaborate black-tie affair! (Perhaps for my 30th Birthday)

Making pretty good head way on this list, don't you think? My 28th birthday just passed so I've still got some time for some of these items {especially the more expensive items}. But can you take a guess on which one I crossed off most recently?

Yup, the red highlight probably gives you a good clue. ;) A few weeks back I got sick, out of no where, isn't that extremely inconsiderate of illnesses not to give you warning? Anywho, so I got sick and had to take off work. With the hubby out of the house and me on again/off again asleep I decided to rock some 80s movies! What was the movie of choice for this sick person? I'm not ashamed to say it, Lethal Weapon......ALL FOUR MOVIES.

Now I know not all of them were filmed in the 80s, but I pretty much consider them 80s type movies. I mean do you remember Mel Gibson's hair??

I had forgotten everything from those movies, of course it has been forever since I watched them, but it was pretty entertaining. Danny Glover and Mel Gibson really did have a great relationship on screen. Their banter, along with Joe Pesci and Rene Russo, cracked me up! And if that wasn't enough 80s for one day I also happened to catch this classic on TV after my nap....

I certainly think that day marks number 24 off my 30 before 30 list! What is your favorite 80s movie?

Monday, August 20, 2012

My 28th birthday was last week and I posted here some things I thought would be good gifts for my birthday-should anyone be looking for suggestions-but what I received was so much better than what I could have imagined.

When I came into work, I really felt the LOVE with balloons and flowers on my desk along with a couple cards. Then one of my work besties made raspberry lemon cupcakes....take a look! They were AMAZING!

Aren't those just the cutest darn things?? We then had a celebratory lunch at Havanna's. Their chicken nachos are delicious and I ate way too much. Of course. Then came to the evening in which the hubby and I were going to see The Campaign, with Will Ferrel and Zack Galafanakas, at Cinema Cafe. It was a funny movie and I had a great time.

For dessert I had a rockin mint chocolate chip ice cream cake courtesy of my parents. Ryan surprised me with flowers, a bottle of wine that I love, Starbucks gift card, a DIY magazine (does he know me or what) and a beautiful card.

And if that wasn't enough, he also reserved me a 50 minute massage at the Flowering Almond Spa at The Founder's Inn on Saturday.

I have had a very tough year thus far. Nothing atrocious and certainly not life & death, but it has been very tough on me emotionally, physically and mentally. And Ryan knows that. So it was so wonderful of him to allow me some time to pamper myself with an aromatherapy massage. I had never been there before, but oh my! It was BEAUTIFUL. The place was so relaxing as soon as I walked in I was greeted and directed to a locker which had a robe and flip flops for me to change into.

It had a lounge area for me to wait, read a magazine and get some cold lemon water before the blessed event. The lady, Bridgette, called my name & brought me into a room. I picked ouy my scent, tranquility, and then disrobed. The bed was heated, yup heated, so it was warm and cozy. The music was so soothing that I just closed my eyes and enjoyed all the senses that filled my nostrils. Hot towels were also given for my neck and back which added to the relaxing feeling (who doesn't love a warm blanket or bath? feels like home). I didn't fall asleep but the time went by too fast nonethelss.

I truly had the best birthday this year and it was all because people showed me how much I meant to them. It also allowed me some "ME" time, which I don't do enough of. Bring on the new year!!!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

I totally forgot to update yah'll about an upcycle project I did awhile back.{It also happens to check off something from my 30 bedfore 30 List} Do you remember the DIY tv stand I redid? It was a boring cream French Provincial dresser that I decided would make an excellent TV stand. Still is our TV stand and we made improvements by taking out the top two drawers to make room for the cable and playstation see....

Anywho, so back to my diy mirror revamp. If you remember from the before photos of the dresser (see below) it had a mirror that came with the purchase. I only used the dresser for the tv stand but wanted to use the mirror for something else. I have this space in my entry way and I thought it would be a perfect fit, but the mirror needed some work that's for sure.

I had left over paint from when the fireplace wall was redone, and wanted to paint it for some pop of color. But once I did that I wasn't in love, so I distressed it a little with some sand paper. Here's the final result, what do you think?

I have it up in our entry way so I think that counts as a piece of art work that I made that's displayed in our home, so I'm checking off number 10 from my list! YAY...slowly but surely I'll accomplish it all. ;)

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

The highly anticipated day has come and gone! I'm so excited to share the wine tasting party that I've been telling you about. It started awhile ago when my friend and I decided to set a date, then I made the trip to Michaels & Total Wine, made the DIY wine sampling cards and we finally got to use them at our party this past weekend!

In addition to wine, each guest was responsible for bringing a dish. If you were responsible for red wine then you needed to bring something heavier and if you had white wine then you brought something lighter. I brought red, so I made little mini pigs in the blanket. A staple at any party I'm throwing!

Here are some pictures of the festivities that took place:

And here are my filled out wine tasting cards. They worked perfectly and everyone complemented me on a job well done. YAY!

I had an absolute blast hanging out with these fine ladies. It was a lot of fun trying out different wines that I wouldn't have tried ordinarily. There is definitely conversation for the next one and who's place it'll be at. If you have a group of girlfriends, I'd recommend throwing an under/over party! Just make sure it's on a day where you don't have to work the next day. ;)

Monday, August 13, 2012

As I mentioned in my previous post, we're having a wine tasting party at my girlfriend's house and I graciously volunteered to make the wine tasting cards.

It's been a while since I've been crafty, so I thought this would be just the thing to kick my butt in gear. {I mean wine is a great motivation-right? LOL} So I went to Michaels and got a couple things to help get started. I scored some colorful cardstock, wine stickers {no stamps, which was my first choice} and a cute "handmade by yours truly" to showoff the creator...MOI!

So I started my craft project laying out all my supplies. Then I picked out two colors of cardstock, one for white wine and one for red wine. I chose green cardstock for white and purple cardstcok for red since they represent the delicious grapes we were going to be enjoying! ;) Using my stencils, I started labeling and marking each card with numbers 1 through 6 since we'd be having 6 bottles of each type of wine (3 guests were bring red, 3 guests were bringing white with two bottles each guest).

After doing the stenciling portion, I cut the edges with special scissors and then fancied them up with the wine stickers from Michaels. I coordinated the white wine stickers on the green cardstock (white wine) and red wine stickers on the purple cardstock (red wine). Yea...I know, a little too detail orientated. What can I say?! Finally I decided that since this was our first under/over party that we should have a little sign to welcome all the guests in.....here's what my crafty adventures got me!!

So whatta think? I'm super pumped for the party and ready to show off my little tasting cards. :) Do you have any DIY crafts you wanna show off also? Share them in the comment section so I can take a look.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Have you ever heard of that song by Kelly Calrkson 'My Grown Up Christmas List'? I love how it talks about how your desires change from when you were younger to when you grow up to be an adult. Now this isn't going to be an entire post about things I want for my birthday (which is next week) like world peace and something unattainable, no there are certainly things I want that can be purchased...it's just interesting the change from not that long ago.

Case in point, I would love to have a maid come in and clean my house again. Yes, again. I had it done previously, since it was on my 30 before 30 list, but I would totally love to have it done again. I hate cleaning certain areas in the house, like bathrooms (eek) so this would be great to have again.....now, do you think the young me would have cared about that? NOPE! ;)

Another thing I would love for my birthday? These beautiful Jessica Simpson flats that I keep eye-balling at Dillard's. They are absolutely adorable and extremely professional...a shoe would certainly be something I would ask for, but (and even though they are super cute) I wouldn't typically ask for professional looking one.

Wine....wine is always a good gift for me. Even when I was younger (talking collage not teenage/high school-just wanted to clarify) I enjoyed wine. But what has changed is the type of wine. I used to only enjoy Arbor Mist type wine. Not "real" wine. Or maybe a fruity white wine. Now, I enjoy a good red wine that is oaky and has a smooth finish like Shiraz or Merlot. See I'm "maturing"! ;)

Another thing I would totally LOVE for my birthday? Someone to come in and revamp our entryway. Seriously, I saw this one revamp from Love of Family & Home and I have been thinking about it NON-STOP since. I love doing home improvement projects in the home, and this project would not only be functional but also super cute for the aesthetics of our home. Ah...if only! Again, doing projects to the home would have never made the list when I was younger. LOL

Mason Jars. No joke, I would love some mason jars for my birthday. I've been seeing so many DIY/craft projects to do with them, and I've already expressed my love for mason jars in a previous post, so I would really enjoy getting my craft on with some mason jars. Not extremely expensive and I can totally pick them up myself at Walmart or something. But why do that when I have a b-day coming up? ;) Do you think the teenage version of myself would be jazzed to open up a wrapped present filled with little glass jars? Not so much. Me, now, on the other hand I would totally want to use them for so much stuff like organizing, painting & displaying them in the office or as a vase. Possibilities are endless...

Gift cards. Seriously. My mother use to beat into my head that gift cards are the "in-personal" gift for someone. They don't say "I care." Which is true, but does that take away from the value at all? NO! I would love gift cards for places to eat (I don't eat out often, so this would be a treat) or to go get a massage or have my nails done. I think a younger version of myself would have been okay with gift cards, but probably for clothes (which I wouldn't say no to now). Even then, my version of clothes that I want now is WAY different then when I was younger....ahhh, maturing. ;)

Aside from the material items (there are more than the list above, but they are fun little things like jewelery or scarves and hair accessories for my new short hair cut), I would totally be happy as a clam spending time with my family and friends. There-that's an honest to gosh grown-up birthday wish!! I spend so much of my time stressing out about adult things (finances, work, work, finances) that it would be nice to have some time to not stress about the adult things and really go out and enjoy myself. I would love to do an activity like put-put (there's the inner child in me) or go to antique shops; walk around places I don't typically go and explore. Whatever it is, I would just love to spend time with those closest to me. Getting older isn't tough, in my opinion (although I have some bones that would disagree with me). The number is just a number. But what is tough is feeling like you don't have enough time to do the things you really enjoy. Like spending time with family and friends....

Saturday, August 4, 2012

A few weeks ago I was chit chatting with my best friend Megan about an under-over wine tasting party. It seemed shocking that as much as we both love wine that we've never hosted a wine tasting party. {insert gasps now} Well that just had to change, right? ;)

Have you heard of an under-over wine tasting? It's a wine party where each guest brings two bottles of wine. One under $10 and another over $10. The concept is very appealing because you get to try different wines that you might not otherwise try. So Megan graciously offered to host the party at her home and the date was set!

Being the crafty little busy bee that I am, I excitedly offered to create the wine tasting cards. We decided a small guest list of six people. Her sister-in-law, mother-in-law, co-worker, me and my other girlfriend Missy. With six people that meant twelve bottles of wine, six white and six red. Given the mixtures of wine we would also need some foods that would pair well with both types of wine. This party is happening & the excitement is building.

That means I need to get on the ball with creating those wine tasting cards!! First stop is my beloved Michaels.

My trustee sidekick Missy helped me while shopping for the cardstock and some wine embellishments for the cards. I really wanted to find a wine stamp so I can reuse for future things {I mean, I'm a wino so I would certainly use again!} but unfortunately they didn't have anything. So I went the sticker route. Stay tuned for the details on creating these cards. ;)

Next stop was Total Wine. We lucked out because when we went they were having a wine sampling, so I got to try a couple different wines in a range of prices.

I needed to get two bottles of red wine. At the sampling there was a white wine from Medozza Station that was only $6 and absolutely delicious! I'm not typically a sauvignon blanc drinker, but I enjoyed it very much. So I got a bottle to have at home. Another wine I sampled was a mixture wine with parts Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot that was absolutely delicious; it was so smooth, not at all oaky and a nice finish. SCORE! It was $15 (but I got a $1 coupon for sampling). So I had one wine down, needed to get another bottle under $10.

Since the first wine is a strong bottle with the mixtures of reds I really wanted to get a "basic" type that didn't have a whole lot of surprises. Now I really love Black Swan Shiraz/Cabernet mix, but the point is for us to try something different. So I was pleasantly surprised when Medozza Station, who made the white I tried in the sampling, made a cab. BAM! Second wine bought.

This party is such a fun excuse to go out and get more crafting supplies, craft for a couple hours and buy wine. Why on earth has it taken so long to do this?! ;)

Thursday, August 2, 2012

I'm not really sure I should be telling you all this, but a friend of mine encouraged me to share this story with the world...so here it goes.

Yesterday I lied. {Hands over the mouth and gasping sounds spill out!} But it's true. Yesterday I had a "situation" happen to me and I lied about it to protect the innocent, i.e. myself. But let me reverse one day. On Tuesday I had the bad case of the allergies; which, for anyone who knows me this can entail several different signs. Watering eyes, sneezing, swollen eyes (as a result of rubbing said watering eyes) and irritation (my husband will tell you this is a 24/7 thing with me and I assure you that's not true). So anyways, back to the story, Tuesday one of my eyes was red and irritated. Nothing I could do about it, can't call out for an irritated eye, so I went to work.

**MINOR VENT: I hate when you have something, an ailment of some kind, and someone goes off the deep end or gives you the big "X" with their fingers like the one thing you wanted to do is infect them. Seriously? That's how you want to respond? Ideally the person with whatever ailment would LOVE to be at home and away from you but that's not always the case. I think it goes back to the saying "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say something at all!" Anyways, I digress....

So at work everyone noticed my eye was red and one co-worker even asked if I had pink eye (i.e. the rant above). The eye was irritated and red all day. :( Fast forward to yesterday morning. I woke up and no irritated eye-HORRAY! Okay, so here comes the confession....

I ended up irritating my eye AGAIN and forcing it to be red ALL DAY long. We're talking had to go to the store and get Visine, with blurry vision, asking for assistance with my drops, sunglasses wearing kinda irritation. Yup, bad....so here's my confession. I told co-workers that the irritation came from a big clump of face wash that ended up in my eye. The irritation from the alcohol and stuff made it burn and thus redness. That was a lie. EEK!!

The innocent one

The real truth is that I have black heads. There I said it. Now the whole world knows it I can move on with the rest of my story. So yesterday morning after washing my face, and no clumps went into my eye, I decided to use a Biore strip (pictured below). Without getting into advertising for this brand, they work. I love them and use them once a month. Moving on....so I put the Biore strip on my nose and waited for it to try. For some reason my eye itched or maybe the strip was too close to my eye, whatever the case I rubbed my eye. BIG MISTAKE!!!

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Guilty one!

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That split decision to rub my eye changed the course of my whole day. Apparently a piece of the strip came off and into my eye. Urgh....complete irritation and I proceeded to rub the eye furiously to get this little paper out; which, unfortunately, caused more irritation, watering and some swelling. Two days in a row I had an eye that was out of commission! :( So there it is, the confession. But what's even funnier is the situations this incident forced upon me throughout the day. Here's a list...

While walking the dog I needed a tissue to hold back the water from streaming down my face. I ended up propping it up against my face with my sunglasses so it looked like I had eye surgery. NIICE!

I walked around my house wearing sunglasses trying to hide the fact from my husband. Didn't work, I confessed it as soon as I was asked (I would not survive an interrogation)!

I ran to the store to get Visine and tried putting it in my eye while sitting in the car. Not successful; it took several tries to get one drop in my eye. ANOTHER CONFESSION: I am not good with seeing things come near my eye like that. The anticipation makes me flinch and make sudden movements to dodge the drop.

I came into work and for the first hour wore sunglasses because I didn't want another pink eye comment. I was told by co-workers I looked like a celebrity undercover or a spy and should remove them (plus, I'm sure there is a security reason I shouldn't be wearing those all day long).

The funniest thing of the day was an incident with the drops. I asked my bestie, Amanda, to put eye drops in the eye half way through the day. If you remember from number 3 I don't like seeing the drops come in my eye. After persisting she help a girl out, she had me sit in her chair to administer treatment. Picture it, I'm in her cube in an open quad concept at work....She first had to warn me that she's never done this before-like it's surgery or something. ;) So I lean back in her chair and we play a little game of dodge ball with the eye drops! She would go to squeeze the bottle over my eye and I would flinch alarmingly or move away. Not very nice for someone who was already not enthusiastic for administering treatment. ;) After a couple attempts we were victorious.

So there you have it. My confession to the world about the real reason for my eye mishap yesterday. I swear there is something wrong with me as I have these kinds of situations happen often! Maybe I'm crazy, who knows. Do you have an insane story like this to share? I'd love to see I'm not alone! ;)

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Behind the Title

The title of my blog is Jiminy Cricket. For anyone who knows me, I say this phrase ALL THE TIME. Do not ask me why. I do not know why. I don't even like the movie where the cricket named Jiminy comes from (Pinocchio). But for whatever reason, I use it constantly in my daily vocabulary. It comes into play when I am told something that amazes me, when someone startles me or pretty much when I'm at a loss for words. Enjoy my Jiminy Cricket moments.. :)